


Something I Need

by Umbraced



Series: The Traveler: Undertale [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dancing, Everyone Has Issues, F/F, F/M, Gangs, Gaslighting, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Impaired OC, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Original Characters Everywhere, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overprotective OC, PTSD will make an appearance later, She is the embodiment of "I licked it it's mine now", dance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-03-01 03:48:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18792361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbraced/pseuds/Umbraced
Summary: "Don't you have anything better to do?""yup.""Shouldn't you, ya know, go and do it?""yup.""... You're not going to leave, are you?""nah."





	1. An Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm going to say this first thing:  
> I have absolutely no schedule with this. I'm typing it up when I have the drive to so it's going to be sporadic at best.  
> Other than that please enjoy! It's my first time writing and posting in a long time and constructive feedback is more than welcome!

You know you have seen some shit when an interdimensional portal floating just in front of you is not enough to draw your attention from the relatively mindless task of typing.

 

The young woman on the bed focused intently on the movement of her fingers punching away at the lighted keys. Each vowel and consonant was given the utmost review, anything to distract from the shimmering and swirling ether just above and beyond the glowing screen.

 

This was not her first experience with such phenomenon but this particular appearance had been persistent. Previously her simple act of feigned ignorance had banished the swirling mass to… wherever it had spawned from. Several times in fact. But this one remained, pulsating ever so innocently at occasions.

 

The keystrokes slowed, a quick glance confirming that it was indeed still there. Her lips turned down into a sour curve before making a show of picking up her laptop and turning to face away on the plush covers.

 

A rather poor choice in reactions towards a supernatural force but an effective communication regarding her level of concern.

 

The silence all at once felt heavy, almost gaining a kind of weight to it, an emotion of exasperation. She knew it was not the wind coming from her (closed) windows that hit her back in the exhale of a sigh. And that the sudden pressure like the tug of an insistent child in her chest was reaction to her pointed display of nonchalance.

 

Heaving a groan of defeat, she clapped the laptop lid with more force then intended and cocked her head to look over her shoulder at the now rapidly shimmering cloud. “Alright, alright, you have my attention! I really don’t need this right now."

 

The portal pulsed happily, swirling blues and whites reminiscent of a gaseous galaxy dancing within. The woman sighed before grabbing her jacket off the head of her bed and a pair of shoes off her floor while making absolutely sure that her scowl and body language showed how unimpressed she was at her current situation.

 

There was a pulse of impatience from the portal and she rolled her eyes as she removed and pocketed her glasses. The last thing she would want is to lose those somewhere in the void she knew lay beyond the shimmering color. With a final huff she stepped forward, feeling the binding magic that shielded her world from any intruders within pass over her. She heard rather than saw the dimensional gateway close behind her and her world became black.

 

Blacker.

 

And blacker s t i l l.

 

————————————————-

 

The sudden rush of sound was such a stark contrast to the absolute nothingness of the void that she was forced to take a minute, focusing on one sense at a time as a way to not only ground herself but to make sure nothing was left behind.

 

Her sense of hearing was first. Cars passed by below her, the shouting of voices and pounding of footsteps accompanied the cacophony of what she could safely assume was a city or at the very least a bustling town.

 

Her sense of smell was next. Hesitantly she sniffed the air, catching wafts of cigarette smoke, hotdogs, and gasoline. Her nose crinkled in disgust but she resisted the urge to cover it.

 

Taste followed shortly after smell, her sensitive nose all but guaranteeing that she would taste some of the scents as if she was actively consuming them. Her lips curled back in a grimace, mouth opening slightly as if she could release the mixture from her mouth. It didn’t help.

 

Her sense of touch was her next focus. Normally it would be the first she tried but the assault on her other senses had required immediate attention. She felt the rough denim of her black jacket against her finger tips, the wind against her face and ruffling through her hair (possibly a roof?) and the headache forming as everything started to slowly register.

 

She let out a sigh before finally opening her eyes, retrieving her glasses from the pocket she hid them in. She had been correct in assuming she was in a roof, though how high up had startled her slightly. She was in a rather large town, from the looks of it, a park to her right where a hot dog vender set up shop and something akin to a business district stretching to her left.

 

So far delightfully uneventful. She wondered how long that would last.

 

With a final grunt of agitation she turned and walked toward the ledge of the roof which dropped into an alleyway. Checking that the coast was clear she took one final step, acting for all the world as if there was not a drop of three stories awaiting her.

 

The very wind rose to greet her, slowing her decent to an almost stop before gently lowering her to the ground. Once her feet hit pavement she sent out a mental “thank you” as if to the very element itself before exiting the alley, intent on figuring out where this particular portal decided to drop her.

 

Turning away from the park she headed left, keeping her eyes peeled for a newspaper box or one of those windows full of TVs that she had honestly never seen outside of movies. After a block or so her already frayed patience gave out, making her release a frustrated sigh. She looked around impatiently before her eyes landed on a small group of people headed away from her on the opposite side of the street. Quickly making her way over to them, years of experience in customer service came to her aid as she plastered on a fake smile and friendly aura, calling out to the group ahead.

 

The group came to a halt, three bodies moving to look at the woman who was interrupting their stroll. “I’m so sorry to bother you but my phone died and I was hoping one of you had the time?” Her friendly smile and polite words seemed to put the strangers at ease as all three pulled out their phones. She managed to glance over the arm of the closest one as they read the time to her.

 

_ 20XX? Why the “Xs?” _

 

She gave them a chipper smile and a thanks before wandering off back towards the park, throwing a lie over her shoulder about a friend coming to meet her soon when one of the strangers offered to let her use their phone. She may be able to fake a lot of things, but phone conversations were not on that list. She passed by a coffee shop and paused, rustling around in her pockets for some money. Stars above knew how badly she needed something to stave off her headache and she may get lucky and find a newspaper in there. Most people nowadays were more focused on their phones so the possibility of finding one on the rack should be higher, right?

 

She breathed a sigh of relief as her fingers brushed the paper in her pocket before pulling it out to check. She hummed in discontent at the small amount before heading inside. Maybe just the paper and a black coffee, then.

 

After paying the barista and settling down in a corner chair away from everyone else she opened the newspaper, briefly wondering where the hell “Ebbott” is in terms of this universe’s geography. She’d check her phone but the thing rarely worked properly during these type of escapades so she more often than not just left it at home. Maybe she’d ask the older gentleman sitting at the table closest to her. She knew her way around the elderly and nine times out of ten could charm even the grouchiest of old men with a smile and correct word placement. Might as well put such skills to use.

 

She started planning how to broach the subject with him while skimming the paper, only half paying attention to the actual words.  _ Maybe I can make up a lie about hitchhiking and not really knowing where I got dropped off? I mean, that’s technically true anyway, right? _

 

It would seem her planning was unnecessary as the man addressed her first. “Nasty business, ain’t it?” She shot him a surprised and slightly confused look as he motioned to her paper. She turned it to look at the front page headline. The only words that really caught her eye were “MONSTERS” and “MT. EBBOTT,” the words tickling something in the back corner of her memory.

 

She ignored it in favor of responding to the man. “Honestly I had no clue. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling and it’s left me quite out of the loop, you see.”

 

He gave her a look as if he couldn’t quite believe her. “Don’t you kids have phones on you at all times these days?”

 

She forced a chuckle. “Mine has been out of commission for a while now. Haven’t had the chance to get it fixed yet.” She made a pointed glance at the front page, bringing his attention back to the headline as well. “So what has happened, then?”

 

“Basically what it says. These things came crawling out of the mountain! Lead by a kid, no less! I’m worried they forced the little bugger into helping them somehow.”

 

She let out a non committal hum as she looked more closely at the article, the feeling of familiarity coming to the forefront once again. She frowned as she read the article, already hating the way humanity seemed to be reacting to such a discovery. The man, however, seemed to take her reaction as agreeing with him. He started on a tirade that she honestly tuned out, her focus now on a picture that accompanied the headline. In it were several faces that she recognized from her time on blogging platforms, but none rang the bell for her more than the pair of skulls grinning out from the paper.

 

_ Oh _ . She thought to herself, the puzzle pieces finally coming together in her head.  _ That’s where I am. _

 

She had never played Undertale, never really had the chance, so this particular endeavor she had been dropped into had her going in almost completely blind. She hated unknowns. Maybe she could get down into the basic “coding” of this universe to find the answers to some of her questions.  _ Or _ , the little voice in her head offered,  _ you could not cheat and just let it happen _ .

 

_ Ah yes _ , she responded sarcastically,  _ because that has always been the best idea _ .

 

The man was still talking as she stood, spewing off something about goats being the spawn of Satan before stopping when she apologized for cutting the conversation short and giving a hastily made excuse. She tucked her paper away and exiting the building, turning as if to head to the park. Once she was a few storefronts down she moved into an alleyway, giving a brief once-over to make sure no one was looking before allowing herself to fall backwards trust fall style before being swallowed by suffocating blackness. She took a deep breath before lifting her hand, the space around her becoming illuminated in the soft shades of blue that accompanied electronic screens. She started tapping and swiping at the screens, looking for the particular bits of this universe’s history that would aid in her blending in.

 

“Now then,” she muttered, the glare from the screens reflecting off her glasses. “Let’s see what we have here.”


	2. Chapter 2: Five Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, I didn’t really have a beta reader for this one so apologies in advance if things don’t flow quite right. I had the hardest time trying to get my writing and the dialogue to mesh properly.

She was running, the sounds of an all-to-familiar powder pink 1988 Ford Mustang and the group of people within just around the corner. She had to lose them but her usual tricks weren’t working this time. She had doubted that these people were able to learn from their past failures and was now paying for it.

 

_ What is it with humans and not taking hints? _

 

She skirted around another corner just as the car turned onto the street she had previously occupied. In her slight panic she ran into a person, barely getting out an apology and “you didn’t see me” before running around them and ducking into the first alley she came across. Listening for the sounds of the car as it got closer to the street she hurriedly checked her pockets for a bottle of medication, cursing at her forgetfulness as she felt what was undoubtedly an “episode” (as her friends liked to call them) come on. Her body started to shake, the tremors getting worse as she heard the car stop at the intersection and the voices of the people within asking someone (the person she ran into?) if they had seen her. 

 

There was no reply, but with her senses shutting down she probably wouldn’t have heard it anyway.

 

The sound of the car rolling away was muffled, almost as if underwater, but the sound of a single set of footsteps rang clear as someone approached her hiding spot. She barely registered them stopping next to her as she struggled to pull her phone from her pocket, a sound like the crackling of fire yet deeper accompanying it, before her senses faded completely…

 

And then the pain began.

 

_____________________________

 

The day started out like any other for Grillby. Wake up in the early hours, get dressed, eat a light breakfast, prepare the bar below his apartment for the evening crowd, spend the rest of his time before opening running errands or going for a walk.

 

At least, that’s what was supposed to happen. He didn’t expect to have someone run into him on his way to the park.

 

The poor human was clearly distraught, barely giving him a glance as she looked over her shoulder. She managed a quick apology and a just as hasty “you didn’t see me” before going around him and taking off into an alley.

 

He had almost no time to process what had happened before a pale pink convertible started to slowly drive through the intersection the girl had appeared from, it’s occupants speaking loudly as they tried to figure out where the one they were following went. He vaguely heard the driver of the car, a young woman with blonde hair wearing enough perfume that he could smell it from where he stood, proclaiming in an obnoxious tone that the one they were chasing would never turn down the street she did as “that’s the fucking  _ Fairy  _ district! She’d never do that to me!”

 

While the statement itself didn’t make sense to him the speciest terminology stuck out well enough. The group drove past, several of them throwing glares and rude gestures his way as if making sure he knew they were aware of him when the comment was said. A frown tugged at his mouth as he simply waited for the sounds of the vehicle to fade away before turning around and heading in to check if the woman who ran into him needed assistance.

 

He found her crouched beside a dumpster, gloved fingers clutching her short black hair and entire body shaking. Her breathing came out in pained gasps as one of her hands moved from her hair to claw at her chest. Grillby thought he recognized some of the behavior as a panic attack and as such slowly approached the woman in hopes of not causing her further distress. He spoke in what he hoped was a soothing manner as he reached for her, making it a point to give her plenty of opportunity to pull away if she wished to not be touched.

 

To his surprise she let out a strangled sound that made him realize three things. The first was that she was in a lot of pain. Second, she was used to trying to keep quiet as she had made a point to keep her mouth closed shut and even worked on quieting her breathing. Lastly, what she was going through wasn’t a panic attack or even an anxiety attack. 

 

He briefly wondered if he should try to call the hospital for her before shooing that thought away. A monster calling an ambulance for a human would raise a lot of suspicion even after all this time, especially now that monster haters were grasping at straws to try and make their “cases.”

 

His flame crackled with discontent as he weighed his options, though he wasn’t sure if he could afford to think on it long. The human looked as if she was trying to hurt herself further, her gloves and black jacket being the only shields between her fingers and skin as she started scratching at her upper arms. He once again reached for her slowly and took gentle hold of her hands before trying to speak to her. He noticed she flinched slightly but did little else and he briefly wondered if she was coming down from whatever had gripped her.

 

He spoke to her again, low and soothing, urging her to breathe deeply and slowly. She seemed to respond but just barely, her hands tightening her grip on his as if using him as a lifeline before abruptly letting go and pulling away.

 

Just as he was moving to try to help her up her breathing abruptly slowed, her dark eyes widened slightly before closing, and she slumped forward enough that her head landed on his shoulder. Grillby started to panic internally before realizing that she was still breathing… and in pain. With a groan of frustration he made the (admittedly stupid and somewhat out of character) decision to move her to his bar to hopefully wake up and heal as he convinced her to not to panic and turn this into a reason to hate Monsters. After all, if the people she knows threw around slurs there was a chance she agreed with their side of things.

 

He scooped her up as gently as he could, paying careful attention to the pain on her face and adjusting accordingly before carefully making his way towards his bar.

 

With any luck this could end favorably for both of them.

 

_______________________________

 

Sans popped in to Grillby’s Bar as he usually did, unannounced and with no warning, to an extremely unusual sight. The bar was completely empty.

 

His immediate response was worry with a slight hint of panic as he scanned the area behind the bar in search for his friend. When he neither saw nor heard the crackling of his flames his permasmile turned down into a frown, what would be brows furrowing as he tried to think and listen.

 

Just as he thought he heard the hum of Grillby’s magic coming from the back room the sound of fabric shifting and a pained moan came from behind him. His posture stiffened as he turned slowly, noticing for the first time a pair of shoes poking out from the bench of a booth. How he was unable to sense this person from the get-go was an unknown that greatly unsettled him as he approached the shifting form.

 

When he got close enough to see who was in the booth he froze.

 

Lying in the booth was a human woman. Her short black hair was messy, almost as if she had just rolled out of bed. She was covered from the chin down in a dark green turtleneck (isn’t it nearing summer?) and black skinny jeans. A black cropped jacket had been folded to be used as a pillow though judging from her current state he doubted she did it herself. The skin he could see of her face was on the paler side of brown and currently contorted around her eyes and mouth as she let out another strangled sound of pain.

 

Sans glanced around the restaurant again before planting his gaze firmly on the woman and calling out a slightly worried “grillbz?” The footsteps he heard in response made him sag in relief somewhat before said fire elemental rounded the corner. Before he could say anything, Sans pointed at the woman and gave a very confused “what the fuck?”

 

Grillby gave him the general rundown of what happened as the skeleton monster gave the woman another once over. A phone that he assumed was hers lay next to a pair of glasses on a folded up towel on the table, having apparently landed in a stereotypical alleyway puddle when she dropped it.

 

Sans picked the device up as of to inspect it for water damage when the screen lit up, an obnoxious song accompanying the words “Mitsy (Baby Girl)” and the picture of a teenager surrounded by kids.

 

Sans and Grillby exchange looks as if silently asking which one would answer it but before either of them could the ringing stopped. 

 

“do you think we should-“ Sans was cut off by the phone ringing once again, the same contact info and picture upon the screen. He quickly swiped to answer and put the device on speaker but before he could even utter a “hello” a younger female voice cut through.

 

“Ma? Where the everliving  _ fuck _ are you? Did that Barbie blonde bitch hold you up again? Are you hurt? If that silicone filled motherfucker got near you I swear-“

 

Sans managed to let out an intelligent sounding “uhh…” that immediately got the voice on the phone to pause. 

 

“Who. The fuck. Are you?”

 

“s-sans. the skeleton. my buddy found this phone and who i’m guessin’ is the owner in an alley. we have her here but she won’t stop shakin’.”

 

“Fuck… Does she have a pill bottle with her?”

 

“not that we could see.”

 

There was a string of curse words followed by rapid Spanish as she yelled at someone on her end of the phone. “What’s the address?”

 

Sans gave her the address of the bar (“How the fuck did she get to the Monster District?!”) before telling her that the front door will be locked but to just knock and they’d let her in. After hanging up Grillby let out a somewhat sarcastic “She sounds pleasant.”

 

Sans snorted in agreeance before turning back to the human in the booth. Her shaking had switched to frequent twitching and her breathing had evened out a little more, however her face still showed clear signs of distress. He signed before moving to his usual barstool and hunkering down. “i think i need a drink.”

 

—————————————————

 

Over an hour passed before they heard the frantic knocking at the door of the bar. The woman in the booth had calmed significantly, though she visibly flinched at the sound. Sans took a shortcut to the door and opened it, choosing to not freak the humans on the other side any more than they already were by opening it with magic.

 

The two humans on the other side couldn’t have been any older than twenty, the girl only about half an inch taller than him and the guy a good head or so. He moved out of the way just as the girl barreled her way through, wild eyes scanning for any sign of the woman they came to collect. “she’s in the booth.”

 

Sans and Grillby watched as the younger humans found the woman’s resting place and immediately ran to help her. As they did Sans managed to give them a good once over.

 

The girl had very curly dirty blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, whisks of it falling out and framing her tan face. She wore baggy pants, a tight fitting tank top, and a cropped hoodie that she was currently discarding to help prop the head of the human in the booth. Her entire outfit vaguely reminded Sans of those dance movies they found in the Dump several years ago. If she had a baseball cap he would have joked that she was an extra.

 

The young man looked like he had just rolled out of bed, wearing nothing but sweatpants, a wife beater, and a dark colored jacket with the hood up. While the hood obscured a bit of his face Sans could still see a tattoo of a water drop resting on his cheekbone. What facial features he could make out made him suspect that the two were siblings, looking almost identical with the exception of her slightly more rounded face to the man’s high cheeks.

 

The two started trying to move the older woman, shushing her and speaking words of comfort in low voices as her head rolled slightly and she let out and exhausted whine. The young man positioned her in such a way that he could easily hoist her up in a princess hold before he carefully started walking towards the door. The girl grabbed the jackets and made to go after but paused.

 

She turned and made eye contact with the Monsters in turn, much calmer now that the ailing human was with them. “What’re your names?”

 

Sans bit back a sarcastic comment. “‘m sans. that’s grillby.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of the bartender who had been pacing slightly in front of the bar. Said elemental stopped his movements and gave a nod of acknowledgement towards the girl.

 

She nodded back. “I’m Mitsy. That-“ she pointed towards the young man who was awkwardly shifting in place with the other woman in his arms “is Christan. ‘M not sure how much she’s gunna remember of this but nonetheless we owe you two.” She held her hand out. “Thanks for taking care of Ma.”

 

Hesitantly he met her handshake, noticing how she barely flinched at the feeling of his bones before offering her hand to Grillby as well. Once the pleasantries were over she turned and lead the small group out the door.

 

The two monsters stood there watching the door in silence for several seconds. “so,” Sans started, causing the elemental to startle slightly, “how’s about some burgz.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment! Subscribe! The more I get the more inclined I'll be to write!
> 
> Also follow my writing blog, if you would be so kind! Not much yet but hopefully it'll get better!
> 
> https://practicesafetext.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> Comment! Subscribe! The more I get the more inclined I'll be to write!
> 
> Also follow my writing blog, if you would be so kind! Not much yet but hopefully it'll get better!
> 
> https://practicesafetext.tumblr.com/


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